


Rebuilding Broken Bonds

by ArchangelC137



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, M/M, alex is emotional, protective Rosa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22738195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchangelC137/pseuds/ArchangelC137
Summary: Alex, talks to Liz and Rosa about his relationship with Michael, and Rosa talks to Maria about the very bad idea of trying to date Michael Guerin when it is very clear that he is not emotionally available, nor is he at all over Alex.
Relationships: Alex Manes & Liz Ortecho, Alex Manes & Rosa Ortecho, Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65





	1. Dredging up Memories.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don't dislike Maria, but I do not agree with the decision she made when she kissed Michael. She's still a great character and I can't wait to see what season two has in store for them all, but I needed to vent about the shitty decision that is kissing a friends ex, especially when she knew Alex was hopeful about Michael.  
> Don't hate me, I don't outright rag on her, it's just going to be Rosa sticking up for a friend and trying to talk some sense into another friend. I hope that's how it comes off, but I've never written anything like this before.
> 
> Also, all mistakes are mine, I have no beta.  
> Would love a beta though, that'd be great :)

Alex smiled as he watched Liz and Rosa interact from Liz's bed in their home above the Crashdown. It was the first time he had hung out with Rosa since she had been brought back, what with the fact that Rosa had to accustom herself to being back among the living, and Alex having to sift through all of the Project Shepard files, they hadn't really had much free time that coincided with the other.

Liz and Rosa were reminiscing about high school when Rosa turned to him. "So what happened with that guy you had a crush on in high school, Alex?" She asked as she turned on the bed so she was facing him. "Last I heard, he kissed you senseless."

Alex's jaw clenched, as it always seemed to when Michael was mentioned these days. "A lot has happened since high school, Rosa." Was all he said.

"Oh come on! I saw the look on your face when you were talking to Maria about him. And that was way before the kiss, right? Feelings like that don't just go away." She insisted, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

Alex shrugged. "True, feelings like that don't just go away. But I went to war, and a lot happened. He moved on." Alex sighed as he rubbed the top of his leg. 

"Okay, fine. Tell me why you're avoiding Maria, then." She ordered, her eyes narrowing as she shifted to sit on the edge of the bed. "She's your best friend, her and Liz. What could possibly...." Her eyes widened and Alex squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. 

"It's not a big deal, Rosa. They haven't done anything wrong." He whispered, his mind wondering back to the day Rosa was brought back. How he'd walked into the Wild Pony hoping for a drink because he was worried about Michael and simultaneously upset that he hadn't showed up to talk like they had arranged.

But instead of finding his friend and a drink, he found Michael with his tongue down Maria's throat. He had been stunned to the spot until Maria had looked over at the door slamming shut behind him. He had nodded then, and turned to walk out of the Pony, to both of them calling his name. Maria with a guilty lilt to her voice and Michael with a desperate twinge. 

"It is a big deal! I may not know what's been going on the last 10 years, but friends do not date or sleep with friends ex's. Especially if they supposedly see that person as family." Rosa said angrily. "Plus, Maria knows what it feels like to have someone she really likes taken away from her. I don't understand why she would ever do something like that to you."

Alex bites the inside of his cheek. "She didn't know it was Michael until really recently, so she couldn't have known what he means to me." Alex admits. "He and I never really told anyone about our relationship." 

Liz pipes in here. "I thought it was just the one kiss back in high school." She said, confused. "That's what Maria said to me the other week when we talked about what she knew." 

Alex lets out a small unamused chuckle and shakes his head. "Maria knows more than she's letting on then." He said lowly. "I know that Michael and I weren't together at the time, and I know that Maria doesn't know everything that has happened between the two of us, and I don't blame either of them, but Michael and I were much more than just a kiss in high school."

Liz frowned. "You say that like it didn't end after the kiss." She said.

"It didn't." Alex licks his lips, knowing that he wanted to tell them everything that happened, but knowing that it was going to be one of the hardest conversations he'd ever had. "Michael kissed me at the UFO Emporium while I was working. Afterwards, I had to finish my shift and he crowded into the booth with me, sitting at my feet with his back pressed to my knees. He didn't want to leave, and to be honest, I didn't want him to leave." He started.

"At the end of my shift I took him home with me. He'd been staying in the small tool shed behind my house, because it was cold and he was sleeping in his truck. I offered the shed. He didn't so much accept as just show up after school one day." Alex took a deep breath. "We....well, you know." His cheeks heated. He didn't know why he still got embarrassed about talking about sex, but he always blushed, even when he'd talked to his roommate, Connor, about it.

"It was....well I won't say perfect, because it was my first time, and there was some fumbling because it was both of our first times with another guy." Alex bit his lip for a second. "I feel like I'm outing him, I hate it." He mutters.

Rosa shook her head. "I knew he liked both, with the way he'd look at some of the guys at school. He didn't make it obvious but I figured it out." She assured.

Liz nodded. "I may not have figured it out back then, but we were talking recently, while we were trying to figure out....the uh...." Alex nodded. "He made a few comments, and Maria had already kind of outed him." Alex's eyes flared.

"That wasn't her place." He whispered.

"Why is it a big deal?" Liz asked. She was a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, but this had always befuddled her.

Alex tilted his head. "How would you feel if someone told another person something about you that you maybe didn't want them to know, or wanted to tell them yourself? It's the same thing. Being gay, or bi, or any other sexuality, it's something personal about yourself that you should be able to tell people about. Not something that other people should be spreading around. It's why I was so mad at Kyle and the other two jocks that spread that rumor of me in high school. I should have been the one to tell people. And I never got that chance." 

Liz nodded. "I get that. It was something that you wanted to tell people, and that choice was taken from you. That wasn't fair. I'm sorry Kyle was such an ass to you back then, Alex." Alex shrugged.

"I got the chance eventually. And it went much better than high school." Liz nodded with a smile.

"So what happened with Michael, then? After you guys finished, because I get the feeling that isn't the end of the story." Rosa interjected, and Alex nodded.

"Yeah, uh, we were getting dressed after and my dad....he walked in. The look on his face was the same as the ones he had just before he'd beat me." He stuttered in a breath. "He was so mad, said that it ended right then, picked up a hammer. I told him that it had nothing to do with him. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say. He stormed right up to me, wrapped his hand around my throat." Alex's hand came up to his throat and wrapped loosely around it at the memory.

"Has Michael ever talked to you about his hand, Liz?" Alex asked and Liz shook her head. "He was protecting me." Alex whispered. "He pushed my dad off me, but my dad was stronger than him. He pushed him over to the workbench along the wall with the door and...." Alex felt his throat close up. "He....uhh...." He tried to force the words out, but they were trapped under the lump in his throat.

Rosa reached over and gripped the hand that wasn't wrapped around his throat. "Your dad hit him with the hammer?" She asked lowly and Alex nodded.

"He's the one who broke Michael's hand?" Liz asked, her own left hand covering her mouth, and Alex wondered if she knew she was using that hand.

"Yeah. He wasn't even....he just stared at Michael afterwards. And I tried to stop the bleeding, tried to at least bind his hand a little until he could get it checked." Alex felt a tear fall down his cheek. "Not that it helped, obviously." He laughed incredulously.

"Alex....I can tell what you're thinking. And no, it wasn't your fault." Liz said adamantly. "Your dad was, no is, a monster. All the things he got away with when it came to you were horrible. Everything he did is on him. It doesn't reflect on you in any way."

Alex smiled at her and nodded. "I know, it's just a subconscious thing, I think. Something he beat into my brain." He admitted lowly.

"So you and Michael had one night together? And then what?" Liz asked as she wiped a tear that had escaped her own eye away. 

"I signed up for the Air Force not long after that. We spent the summer together before I was shipped of to basic. As much time as we could anyway. I'd sneak out at night, because my father kept a pretty close eye on me during the day." Alex shrugged. "And after I shipped out, he would come and see me. We'd keep it quiet so my dad didn't find out. But Michael and my roommate Connor got on great, even before Connor knew that I was gay." Alex grinned at the memory.

"They have a running competition going. Every time they're together they play pool, and add to a now very long tally of who is winning." He chuckled. "They have a fair amount in common." He shrugged.

"It's good that they get along." Rosa said with a grin and Alex nodded.

"Yeah, made things easier when I came out after DADT was repealed." Alex said, the hand around his throat dropping into his lap. "Connor was great, he supported me through a few bad times, coming out isn't always easy but he made it better."

Rosa smirked. "Was this guy anything more than a roommate?" She asked and wiggled her eyebrows. Alex laughed, a true laugh. 

"No, Connor is unfortunately very straight, and very taken. Elena is an amazing woman and they've been together almost as long as Michael and I were....whatever it is we were." Alex said with a frown.

"Anyway. It doesn't matter now. Michael wants to move on, and I'm not going to stop him. I understand why." Alex looked down at the hand in his lap. "I wouldn't be able to look at me either if my family was tied to every bad thing that had happened in my life. If that makes sense?" Liz tilted her head.

"I understand what you mean, but again, it is not your fault!" She almost yelled. 

"I know it's not." Alex said. "But I understand him. I understand why he'd want to distance himself." Alex shrugged. "That's all."

Liz and Rosa shared a look. "Can we change the subject? Tonight was supposed to be about reconnecting with the two of you, not rehashing the worst moments in my life." Alex said and both the girls nodded.

"Let's watch a movie!" Rosa said as she jumped up off the bed and walked over to the small bookcase in the corner. "I have a lot to catch up on." She said with a roll of her eyes. Both Liz and Alex nodded and smiled.

"I'll go grab us some popcorn." Liz said, as Rosa picked a movie and Alex slumped in the chair he was in.


	2. Difficult Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosa heads to the Wild Pony to talk to Maria.

Rosa wasn't the type of person to stay cooped up. She stayed at home until Alex brought her the new ID he had made for her, and then she had asked him to take her to the Wild Pony. 

Alex had given her a look, one she recognized as a 'Don't start any trouble' look, but he willingly drove her to the bar, dropping her off out the front. She gave him a smile as she shut the door of his SUV.  
"Thanks Alex. For driving me here and for the ID." She said, flashing him her wallet so he knew she had it on her.

"It was no trouble." Alex said with a grin. "Stay out of trouble. We don't need any unnecessary attention, okay?" He said with a teasing tone.

Rosa chuckled. "No promises, Manes." She said as she turned away from his car.

She pushes into the quiet, closed bar, smiling at all the memories the interior dredges up as she walks over to the bar. 

After a few seconds Maria walked out of the back room, looking at her hands, which she was wiping dry with a rag. "Michael? I didn't think you were coming until...." Her words trail off as she looks up to see Rosa. "Oh my God." She dropped the rag.

"Hey there, Maria." Rosa said with a small smile. "Thought it was time I came to visit." She said evenly.

"They weren't lying?" Maria whispered. "Everything they said was true?" 

"Yeah, aliens and resurrection. All true, all very freaky." Rosa confirms.

Maria reached out and dragged Rosa into a bone crushing hug. "I've missed you so much." She whispered.

Rosa hugged her back. "I would say the same, but I don't remember anything, so I guess I didn't miss anything while I was....gone." She hedged around the 'dead' thing.

Maria let her go and ushered her to the bar. They spend the next few hours just sitting and talking about what happened in Maria's life in the last ten years. And when Maria mentions Michael, Rosa frowns. 

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that." She said with a firm tone. "You are aware of how much you've hurt Alex by starting a relationship with Guerin, right?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even and with no judgmental tone.

"What do you mean? They weren't together, it was just a high school fling." Maria insisted.

"If you believe that then you are further in denial than I thought you were." Rosa said, her voice clipped. "You felt what Alex was feeling. You knew that he was hopeful, and if I know you at all like I did ten years ago, you also know just how much Guerin means to him." She accused. "And yet you started up a relationship with him anyway." She frowns. "You know what it's like to have someone you like, or in Alex's case love, even if he won't say it out loud to anyone, taken away from you. Why would you do that to Alex?"

Maria looked down at the bar. "I just wanted to be selfish for once. Have something for me instead of giving everyone else what they needed."

"But with Alex? With something so important? You basically treated him like his feelings didn't matter. From what I understand, you didn't even talk to him about it before any of this happened. You just jumped right into it with Guerin."

"How was I supposed to talk to him? He's been avoiding me!" Maria yelled.

"He only started avoiding you after you kissed Guerin in front of him." Rosa reminded. "And I know that wasn't on purpose." 

"He never told me." Maria said petulantly.

"Yes, and that's on him. But you also never asked." Rosa said. "I know you must have talked to him in the ten years he was at war. Even if it wasn't as much as either of you wanted to." 

"I did." Maria confirmed.

"Then why did you never ask what happened with the guy who kissed him? He may not have told you when we were teens, but he was also terrified of his dad back then. Maybe being away from Roswell would have helped, and he would have talked to you about it."

"I don't know, we grew apart. We all did after you...." Maria closed her mouth.

"Okay, let me ask you something else then." Rosa twisted so she was facing Maria on the stool. "Why Guerin now, when he is definitely in no state for any kind of romantic relationship? He's an absolute mess, and the best thing for him right now would be friends, not a girlfriend or boyfriend." 

Maria frowned. "What do you mean? Michael has been fine." She said, and Rosa laughed harshly.

"I'm sorry, Maria, but if you think that Guerin is fine then you're more in the land of delusion than I thought you were." Rosa rolled her eyes. "He's been drinking almost non stop since I came back, not to mention the long nights he and Liz have been pulling. He's basically living on booze and energy bars." 

Maria's frown grows deeper. "He's fine when he's with me." She tries again. "He's really been struggling that bad?"

Rosa shrugged. "He is not handling any of this well. Neither is Isobel, but that's a different story." She tilted her head. "From what I've seen, he seems to want something easy, something that just is, instead of something he has to work at. Which is why I think he needs a friend instead of a romantic relationship." Rosa sighed. "I know you wanted something for yourself, but you are aware of the fact that he isn't over Alex right? Those kinds of feelings don't just go away."

Maria bit her lip. "But they aren't together. They had one kiss in high school."

"No. It wasn't just one kiss in high school, and again, I think you knew that when you started this. But that's something you'll have to build up the courage to talk to Alex about." She said decisively.

"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?" Maria asked quietly.

"Maria, he is one of your oldest friends. He saw you as family, and I know he loves you." Rosa said firmly. "He's hurt and he feels betrayed, but he will talk to you. He's just been trying to give both you and Guerin space. He thinks Guerin doesn't even want to look at him."

Maria shook her head. "He looks for him every time he walks into one of those meetings we all have about Max and you." She admits.

Rosa nodded. "I noticed he looks around whenever he walks into a room full of the pod squad." She laughs.

"Pod squad?" Maria asks, she lifted her hand to her mouth to try to hide the smile.

"That's what Liz calls everyone helping with the Max issue." Rosa said with a roll of her eyes. Her eye roll however was lessened by the face splitting grin on her face.

Maria laughs. "That sounds like Liz." She sat in silence for a few minutes and then looked up at Rosa. "I'll talk to Alex." She nodded as if she was convincing herself. "And I'll break it off with Michael. You're right, he needs a friend right now, not whatever it is we've been trying to make our friendship into." Rosa nodded.

"I think that would be a good idea." She patted Maria's shoulder. "Alex will talk to you. But he won't be the one to reach out. You really hurt him, Maria." 

A tear slides down Maria's cheek. "I didn't mean to." She muttered.

"But you knew when you started this that it would hurt Alex, and I think you need to admit that you just didn't care enough not to do it."

Maria squeezed her eyes shut. "I'll work on it." She said.

"Come on, I wanna see pictures of everything that's been going on, especially pictures of Mimi, seeing as I'm not allowed to see her." Rosa insisted and Maria nodded with a watery smile.

"She would love to see you, I think, but her mind isn't what it used to be." She said as she stood and started leading Rosa to the apartment that was above the Wild Pony.

Neither of them noticed the cowboy who was standing in the doorway, eyes red from drink, and wet from listening in on the conversation.


	3. Long Overdue Heart to Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria has a conversation with both Michael and Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure if I'm happy with how I've written Maria here, but all the other ways I wrote this were 1000% worse. This was the only one I liked, so I hope you guys enjoy it. :D

Michael walked into the Pony just before opening the next day and sat down in his usual bar stool. "Hey, Maria." He said as he put his black cowboy hat on the bar.

"Michael, you didn't come over yesterday." Maria said, moving over to him from the shelves of alcohol behind the bar. 

"I did, but you were....otherwise occupied." Maria frowned. "Rosa was here."

Her eyes widened as she realized what conversation Michael would have overheard. "Oh." She said as she placed a beer down in front of Michael. "How much of that conversation did you hear?"

"I walked in while you were talking about me. How I'm not handling everything very well, and that you were planning on talking to Alex...." Michael pushed the beer away. "And that you don't think its a good idea to be in a relationship with me." He finished.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're fine. Look me in the eye and tell me that she was wrong about everything she said." Maria demanded but Michael just shook his head and didn't look up from the bar.

"You need support, Michael. And you have people around you who love you. Liz and Rosa, Isobel, even me." Maria took a deep breath. "And we both know that Alex would do anything for you." She said finally.

Michael chuckles without humor. "I don't know about that anymore." He said as he pulled the bowl of pretzel's over and started picking through them. "After everything that's happened, I don't know if we could ever be anything, much less what...." Michael finally looked up at Maria. "This is weird, talking to you about this."

"A little, but you need a friend." Maria said. "I'm gonna go and talk to Alex tomorrow, since I have the day off, and I'm terrified." She admits.

"He doesn't hold grudges, Maria, you know that." Michael assured her. "Even when he probably should." 

Maria tilted her head. "He protects the people he loves. That includes you, Michael." Michael nodded a little.

"We've never actually said it to each other you know?" Michael confides. "There never seemed to be a good time. He was either being shipped out, or I was dealing with shit with Max and Is, it just never seemed to...."

"The moment never seemed right." Maria said, and Michael nodded again.

"Yeah." Michael's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. "Speaking of Is, she wants me over for dinner tonight." He tucked the phone back into his pocket. "So, you and Rosa were probably right, but I really would like it if I could keep coming around."

"Of course, Michael. You're my friend." Maria said and reached over to squeeze Michael's hand. Michael smiled at her and then turned to the door, walking swiftly out of the bar, Maria watching as he placed his hat back onto his head.

Maria drove up the dirt road that lead to the cabin Kyle had told her Alex was living in. She was nervous and her hands were shaking, but she was determined to talk to Alex about everything that had happened, and get him to talk to her about Michael.

She shut off her truck and stepped out, the bag of Crashdown takeout in one hand, and the milkshakes in the other. 

She walked up to the door and knocked with the hand holding the takeout bag, waited for a response for a few minutes and then knocked again.

A call came from somewhere a little deeper into the cabin. "Hang on, I'll be there in a second." Unmistakably Alex's voice, a little annoyed, but otherwise what she was used to.

She waited for him to come to the door, it swinging open inward and revealing a tousled Alex. "Hey." She said shyly. "I brought food." She held out the takeout back and shook the milkshakes a little bit.

Alex frowned at her, looking between the milkshakes and food and then back to her. He lets out a low sigh. "Come in." He said as he stepped back, gesturing for her to enter his home. "Just through the archway, put it on the table, I'll be in there in one second, just gotta pack up."

Now that Maria was inside, she saw what looked like a yoga mat of sorts in one corner. "You do yoga?" She asked, a little shocked.

"No." Alex said as he rolled the mat up. "I use it for my PT." Maria's eyes widen.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you." She apologizes.

"It's fine, I was basically finished anyway." Alex assured her. He finished rolling up the mat, and put the other equipment away into there appropriate locations. "Come on, let's go eat." 

Alex leads Maria into the small kitchen just off the lounge room and Maria proceeded to unload the takeout bag onto the table. She placed the chips down and then put the milkshakes beside them. Then she pulled out a burger for each of them. 

"Liz said to say hi, and that she'll see you this weekend at the meeting." She said as she pushed Alex's choc mint milkshake toward him.

Alex pulled his shake toward him with a nod. "Yeah, she sent me a message this morning to make sure I was still available." He immediately dipped his fries in his shake and popped it in his mouth. "I might be a bit late, but I'll still be there." 

Maria nodded absentmindedly. "So," she said quietly. "I honestly didn't think you would let me in." She confessed. 

Alex frowned. "Why wouldn't I let you in, Maria?" He asked, looking genuinely confused. 

"The thing with...." Maria gestured with her hand. "You know."

"Michael?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Maria nodded, not meeting Alex's eyes. "I really am sorry, Alex. I didn't want to hurt you." She whispered. 

"I know." Alex said confidently. "That isn't the kind of person you are." 

Maria looked up and Alex saw tears in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me about Michael? About what he means to you?" She asked.

Alex shrugged. "You never asked, and it wasn't my place to say anything. Someone's sexuality should only be told by that person, and Michael hadn't told anyone he was bi. You never should have said anything to Liz about it either, that wasn't your place." He said, his tone clipped.

Maria frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked as they started eating.

"Do you remember when I told you I was gay?" Alex asked and Maria gave a little nod. "Michael never got that chance with anyone. His siblings just instinctively knew, I guess, and he didn't really have anyone else to tell until recently. You shouldn't have told Liz, Michael should have been allowed to tell her when he was ready for her to know."

"She already knew though." Maria reasoned.

"She may have known, but no one had confirmed it for her. Michael should have been the one to confirm it. Like I said to her the other day, how would you feel if someone told other people something you didn't want them to know, or wanted to tell them yourself?" 

Maria nodded. "I see what you mean. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to out him." She said quietly.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to." Alex said.

"About that at least." Maria muttered. "I'm sorry I never asked about what happened, and I'm sorry I never came to talk to you before I started this thing with Michael." She sighed and placed her burger down. "I broke it off. We were always going to be better as friends. And besides," she grinned over at Alex. "That boy is still very hung up on you." She said conspiratorially.

Alex laughed and rolled his eyes. "Michael barely looks at me anymore." He said with a sad look in his eyes.

"Alex, sweetheart. Every time Michael walks into a room, he looks for you. And every time you walk into a room his eyes are immediately drawn to you, even if he's mid conversation with someone." Maria told him with a slight smirk on her face. 

Alex sighed taking a bite out of his burger. He stayed silent for a few minutes as he ate, and Maria watched him process, the look in his eyes shifting through several different emotions.

"I don't know why he went to you." Alex admitted. "He knew I was waiting for him back at the Airstream, we had talked the previous night and I had said that I wanted to talk to him about us. But he never showed up."

Maria nodded. "And then you found us at the Pony." She remembered the look of complete betrayal on his face when he'd seen them.

"Yeah." Alex shrugged. "I wasn't even really that mad at him. I understood the thought process that was going through his head. At least to an extent." Alex looked up from his food. "It was more the fact that you were kissing him that hurt."

Maria's hand gripped the edge of the table as she listened to Alex. "Why?"

"You don't know?" Alex frowned. "You sat across from me not even a few days prior and said it meant nothing, that it wouldn't happen again. And I believed you, because you've never lied to me before, Maria." Alex's eyes misted over. "And then I walked in on the two of you, and all I could think was, 'She's taken my home from me'."

A tear fell down Alex's cheek and he angrily swipes it away. "I get that you didn't mean to hurt me, and that you didn't know the extent of my relationship with Michael, but it doesn't make it hurt any less."

Maria nodded as a tear of her own fell down her cheek. "Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me for all of this?" She asked, her voice so quiet she wasn't sure if Alex could actually hear her.

"Of course I'll be able to forgive you, Maria." Alex's voice holds no room for doubt, the confidence what Maria was used to from him. "It just might take me some time, but you are my family, and you don't abandon family." He reached over the table and gripped Maria's free hand.

Maria placed her burger down and stood, walked around the table and wrapped her arms around Alex's shoulders. "Thank you, Alex. I was so scared that you would hate me."

Alex chuckled a little. "I could never hate you, Maria. Just like I could never hate Michael. I am mad at the both of you though, and that will take a while to go away. But it will go away." He assured her.

Maria nodded and Alex smiled up at her. "Let's finish our lunch, I have to leave in about an hour for a doctors appointment, but we can arrange something for during the week, okay?" Alex asked as she walked around the table and sat back down.

"Absolutely, though it'll probably have to be at the bar, I have stock-take all this week." Maria said with a roll of her eyes.

She felt so much better after their conversation. Knowing that Alex didn't hate her lifted a weight off her shoulders that she didn't realize was there until it was gone. She knew that things weren't fixed, not by any means, but she was sure now that they could be, with a little work. 

And Alex was worth all of that work and more, he was her chosen brother and she was ashamed of herself for the choices she made that hurt him. But she was going to fix it, she was going to show Alex that Michael still loved him, even if Alex refused to see it for himself right now.


End file.
